Amélie Nothomb (Belgium)

She was born in Kobe, Japan to Belgian diplomats. She lived there until she was five years old, and then subsequently lived in China, New York, Bangladesh, Burma, a stint in Coventry and Laos. She is from a distinguished Belgian political family; she is notably the grandniece of Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb, a Belgian foreign minister (1980-1981) and great granddaughter of writer and politician Pierre Nothomb. Her first novel, Hygiène de l'assassin, was published in 1992. Since then, she has published approximately one novel per year, including Les Catilinaires (1995), Fear and Trembling (1999) and Métaphysique des tubes (published in English as The Character of Rain) (2000). She has been awarded numerous prizes, including the 1999 Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française; the Prix René-Fallet; and the 1993 Prix Alain-Fournier.